I will wait for about 4-5 years to really give my true answer, to allow myself to get a fresh perspective but I want to ask this now anyway:
Should Darius Miller have his jersey hung in the rafters?
*1248 career points. Puts him in the 1000 point club and 34th all time.
*Brought an Elite 8, 2 Final 4's and the first National Championship in 14 years to UK.
*Is a Kentucky native
*4-year player, maybe the last 4-year player to make an impact every season.
*Has played in more games that any other Wildcat in history.
*8th in 3-point attempts and 10th in 3-point makes
*His freshman year went from the NIT to his Senior year winning a National Championship.
As of right now, I am unsure.
When I think of jersey's being hung, I think of superstar players. On the other hand, Kentucky has a considerable amount of jerseys that are hung by players who were not superstars, they are hung because of what they did for the program. On THOSE terms, Miller deserves to have a spot with them.
That last bullet point says it all for me.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt........YES!
His taking a back seat to the underclassmen was a turning point for this team. Miller is good enough to start at any college in the country. It was perhaps the most crucial action that lead to the cohesiveness of this team. His stats are among the best, but his unselfish leadership that brought this team together will never be duplicated.
In 2008 Darius Miller was named "Kentucky's Mr. Basketball"
From this point forward he should be know as "University of Kentucky's Mr. Basketball"
I dont think so.
Let reserve that for the superstars.
He is a GREAT feel good story, and beloved by BBN. But deserving deserving of being immotakized as one of the greatest players to ever suit up, No!
Don't get me wrong, I love this kid, I have watched him since his 8th grade year at Mason Co., and know his dad from working here in Alexandria, but the first thing I think of when it comes to Darius is that he never fully met his potential! Yes, he may have been a great role player, and he certainly was the upperclassman that was the glue to the last two seasons! But no one on here can argue that he should have been closer to an MKG from a talent perspective than a Liggins! Darius had the kind of skill that could dominate games, but he was plagued throughout his career for going MIA in just as many games! A HOF'er does not have that kind of roller-coaster career!
Emotions will run wild right now because of the Cats winning a title. It's why you wait five years to become eligible for a HOF, to let time sort out fact versus emotion! It would be a great story to tell future generations, but the reality of it was that Darius could never break through and be the best on a team that's best player was a Freshman in 3 of his 4 years. Darius will be remembered for generations to come, but he should not be immortalized as one of the cherished few immortals.
What we should recognize him for is the fact that he just might be the last truly GOOD senior who contributes to a UK team in a long, long time! I would like to thank Darius for giving us great memories, and I now hope that he can have a professional career that rewards him financially for the rest of his life.
I don't think so.
But UK needs to do something special for the kids that stick it out for 4 years.
Give em' a watch
zaga_fan Wrote:I don't think so.
But UK needs to do something special for the kids that stick it out for 4 years.
Give em' a watch
How about a degree?
Stardust Wrote:How about a degree?
But even the kids that don't play basketball get one of those
nicker:
zaga_fan Wrote:But even the kids that don't play basketball get one of those nicker:
It would be something BRAND NEW for basketball players
I was going to make this same thread...WITHOUT A DOUBT..YES!
#1 Miller should be hanging with the other UK greats!
Alot of the players, and names up there are not superstars. He deserves it.
RunItUpTheGut Wrote:I dont think so.
Let reserve that for the superstars.
Then you would have to remove Pelphrey, Feldhaus, Farmer and Woods.
Kentucky would not have won the championship without miller. Yes.
Been debating this all morning. And I say yes!
Real Badman Wrote:Kentucky would not have won the championship without miller. Yes.
UK could not have won the title without Anthony Davis, they could have without Miller!
Talent-wise, agreed. However, if I have all the pieces to a model car without the glue, I still cannot make the car complete.
i don't know if he should have his number retired, but i do think there should be a small place in Rupp or Memorial that honors past UK players and coaches that came from Kentucky. Guys like Darius Miller, Joe B. Hall, John Pelphrey, Richie Farmer, Jack Givens
Stardust Wrote:UK could not have won the title without Anthony Davis, they could have without Miller!
i agree with Davis, but they don't beat Indiana in the Sweet 16 without Miller
Without a shadow of a doubt!
He has played in more games than any other Wildcat in history.
^ I'm not talking about the championship game, I'm referring to the entire season, culminating with the title! I think if you ask yourself whether UK had enough guns over the last two seasons to win without Darius, I think you could say yes. Let's not get hung up on individual games, like the last two years Sweet 16. That's too easy to skew the importance of considering how great a player is.
This is not a knock on Darius, and its why I hate when these types of discussions get brought up. In order to argue, you have to make arguments for both sides. I've seen on here a few times referring to Darius's 19 against IU for one of his games of major significance. But if you want to point to that game to indicate that without Darius, we would not have made it to the finals. Granted, it was a much needed BIG game when it was needed. But its the roller-coaster ride that he has put fans through that have fairly called out Darius for never being consistent.
If you point to the IU game for what he did good, then you offset it by him almost single-handedly costing the Cats the Ville game withe the 8 turnovers. He was not needed in either Kansas game this year. In a 3 point win over Florida in the SEC semi's, where he was needed badly, he gave the Cats zero points, and 1 rebound. Don't get me wrong, Darius came up key in lots of games, but he unfortunately would disappear in others.
It's the lack of consistency that he had throughout his career as he let others take the spotlight away from him. If you want to compare him to Feldhaus, Pelphry, Woods, or others, then be honest when you answer this question.
Did Darius ever play to the full potential that he possessed?
If you ask that same question about feldhaus, Pelphry, Woods, Farmer, you would say they FAR exceeded their capabilities! Darus had more talent that all of those players put together, but those players exceeded their potential exponentially while Darius sat in the shadows of others! Darius should have put up the numbers that he did against IU nightly, not occasionally! I stand by my position that Darius was a great Kentucky Wildcat. He played 152 games, more than any other wildcat in history. He put stats up in 25 more games than the others. TWENTY FIVE, that was those players entire seasons, thus Darius scored as many as Feldhaus did, but one could argue Feldhaus played four seasons compared to Darius's FIVE.
Yes- Miller is/was the ultimate "team player". Players jersey's are retired because they were special players. Stats are only a part of the equation. Numerous times this year Darius came to the forefront and provided LEADERSHIP to this bunch of youngsters. As much as Calipari contributed to this teams success, so did Miller. He served as the link between Cal and the team and communicated the toughness that Cal wanted. When Darius and MKG were both on the floor this team showed a toughness that was second to noone. I firmly believe that he should have his jersey retired----just my opinion.
There are people who have their jersey in RUPP that Darius is better than. Richie Farmer, no way he was better than Darius is.
I say YES!
In terms of hanging jerseys, I do not care about potential. DeMarcus Cousins didn't hit his potential in college. Last night, he played a game without foul trouble and had 40 points and 12 boards. He certainly didn't hit his potential in college.
I believe John Wall exceeded his expectations in college. Wall is a 9% 3-point shooter in the NBA. NINE!
Potential means nothing to me for the rafters. Only their impact on a program. Stats help with that argument.
If retiring a Jersey was based on stats, then this wouldn't be a discussion. However, if you look at the ones already hanging which have been noted, I think his deserves to be retired.
A stat to add is that Darius Miller is in the top 10 in 3's made in UK History, most games played by a UK player ever.
They are not overwhelming stats, but they are still nice additions to the impact he had on turning it all around.
I'd have to say NO... But much respect for Miller. #1 will be missed.
Lamb scored over 1,000 points in 2 years..
Yes....Like mentioned before, it isn't about there accomplishments but how valuable they have been to the program. Not sure if we will see another 4 year player at UK that will contribute like he has.